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AI optimization, AI search optimization, GEO and AEO: what the names mean and what to do first

Four names for mostly the same job. What each term usually means, what Google says about optimizing for AI features, the one academic definition, and the order to work in.

Zain Kazmi6 min read
On this page
  1. Why there are so many names
  2. What each name usually means
  3. What Google says
  4. What to do first, in order
  5. What we have and have not measured on our own site
  6. Questions people ask
  7. Is GEO different from SEO?
  8. Is AEO the same as AI search optimization?
  9. Do I need special markup or an llms.txt file to appear in Google's AI features?
  10. Can I pay someone to guarantee a place in AI answers?
  11. Where should a small business start?
  12. Sources

Short answer: AI optimization, AI search optimization, GEO, AEO and LLMO are different names that different writers use for overlapping work: making your business easy for AI answers to find, read and describe correctly. No standards body defines them. Google's own documentation says there are no additional requirements to appear in its AI Overviews or AI Mode, and that the best practices for SEO remain relevant. So the useful question is not which name to pick. It is which basic fix your site is missing, and the order below puts them in the sequence we would do them.

Why there are so many names

The work is new enough that every writer coined their own label. We see the effect in our own Search Console: between 4 and 18 October 2026, people reached devmarde.com after typing "ai optimization" (59 impressions), "ai discovery optimization" (38) and "ai optimisation guide" (15), none of which we had used as a heading. They all wanted the same thing, and they all used a different word for it.

What each name usually means

NameWhat writers usually mean by itWhere it comes from
AI search optimization (AISO)Making a site findable and quotable in AI search and answer products, such as ChatGPT search, Perplexity and Google's AI features.A descriptive label. Our complete guide uses it.
GEO, generative engine optimizationThe same goal, framed around "generative engines" that write an answer from several sources.Defined in a November 2023 research paper by Aggarwal and co-authors, which reports that some tactics raised visibility by up to 40% in their benchmark.
AEO, answer engine optimizationWriting so that a short, direct answer can be lifted from your page.A marketing term. We have no standard definition to cite.
LLMO, LLM optimizationBeing named and described accurately by large language models.A marketing term. We have no standard definition to cite.
"AI optimization"Often means the above. Sometimes means tuning your own AI system, which is a different subject.Used loosely. Check what the page you are reading is about.

The only formal definition we could source is GEO's, and its 40% figure comes from the authors' own benchmark of test queries, not from measuring real businesses. Treat it as a research result, not a promise.

What Google says

  • There are no additional requirements to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode, and no other special optimizations are needed.
  • The best practices for SEO remain relevant: allow crawling in robots.txt, link internally, give a good page experience, and keep important content in text.
  • To appear as a supporting link, a page must be indexed and eligible to show a snippet. Indexing and serving are not guaranteed.
  • No special schema.org markup is needed. If you use structured data, it should match the visible text on the page.
  • The page does not mention GEO or AEO.

That covers Google's AI features only. Other assistants have their own crawlers and their own rules, which is why the first fix below is about them.

What to do first, in order

  1. Let the crawlers in. A firewall that blocks the bots stops everything after it. Check which AI crawler user agents exist and what to allow, and if you use Cloudflare, read how to tell whether it is blocking ChatGPT.
  2. Put the content in the HTML. If a page only shows its text after JavaScript runs, some crawlers will see an empty page. Can ChatGPT read my website gives four quick tests.
  3. Get the pages indexed. Use Search Console, submit a sitemap, and look at the Pages report for the reason a page is excluded.
  4. Say who you are, once, in markup that matches the page. Organization markup with a checked sameAs list, and no ratings you cannot source (see review schema for service businesses).
  5. Answer the question near the top of the page. A short direct answer, then the detail, then a short Questions section. It helps readers first, and it is the format a system can quote.
  6. Measure, and say what you did not measure. How to measure AI search optimization covers a monthly check. Keep the questions and the dates fixed.

What we have and have not measured on our own site

devmarde.com has been visible in Google since 16 September 2026, and our measurement log shows the numbers, including the weak ones. We have not yet run a baseline of whether AI assistants name DevMarDe, so we make no claim either way. When we have one, it goes in that log with its date.

Questions people ask

Is GEO different from SEO?

The goal is similar, getting your content used and linked. GEO is framed around answers written by AI from several sources instead of a list of links. Google says SEO best practices still apply to its AI features, so GEO work and SEO work overlap heavily.

Is AEO the same as AI search optimization?

They overlap. AEO is usually about writing a direct answer that can be lifted from the page, and AI search optimization is the wider job of being crawled, read and described correctly. We have no standard definition for either to cite.

Do I need special markup or an llms.txt file to appear in Google's AI features?

No. Google says no special schema.org markup, AI text file or other machine-readable file is needed for its AI features. Other products may read other files, so see what the AI companies say about llms.txt before deciding.

Can I pay someone to guarantee a place in AI answers?

Nobody can promise that. Indexing and serving are not guaranteed even in Google's own words. Be careful with anyone who quotes a guaranteed result.

Where should a small business start?

With step 1 above. Check that the bots can reach the site, then work down the list. Our free Crawl Audit checks the first few steps for you.

Sources

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